Janice Meredith eBook

“Nay, Clowes, he’s no intriguer against
my lass, that I am bound to say. ’T was
only this morning, the moment he had news of Hennion’s
death, he came to me like a man, to ask permission
to address her.”

“Ho, he’s deeper bitten by her charms
than I thought! retorted the suitor. “Or,
on second thought, more like ’t is a last desperate
leap to save himself from ruin. Let me warn ye
that he has enough paper out to beggar him thrice over,
and ’t is only a question of time ere his creditors
come down on him and force him to sell his commission;
after which he must sink into beggary.”

“I sorrow to hear it. He ’s a likely
lad, and has kindly stood us in stead more than once.”

“And just because of his taking parts, he is
likely to keep your girl’s heart in a state
of incertitude, for ’t is only mortal for eighteen
to fancy twenty more than forty-four. Therefore,
unless ye want a gambling bankrupt for a son-in-law,
give him his marching orders.”

“I’ll not do that after his kindness to
my wife and child; but I’ll take good care to
warn Janice.”

“Look that ye don’t only make him the
more interesting to her. Girls of her age think
little of where the next meal is to come from, and
dote on the young prodigal.”

“Have no fear on that score,” replied
the father.

On the morning following this conversation Janice
was stopped by the commissary as she was passing his
office. “Will ye give me the honour of
your presence within for a moment?” he requested.
“I have something of import to say to ye.”

With a little trepidation the girl entered, and took
the seat he placed for her.

Taking a standing position at a respectful distance,
Lord Clowes without circumlocution plunged at once
into the object of the interview. “That
I have long wished ye for my wife, Miss Meredith,”
he said with frank bluffness, “is scarce worth
repeating. That in one or two instances I have
given ye cause to blame or doubt me, I am full conscious;
’t is not in man, I fear, to love such beauty,
grace, and elegance, and keep his blood ever within
bounds. ’T was this led me to suggest our
elopement, and to my effort to bind ye to the troth.
In both of these I erred, and now crave a pardon.
Ye can scarce hold me guilty that my love made me
hot for the quickest marriage I could compass, or
that, believing ye in honour pledged to me, I should
seek to assure myself of the plight from your own
lips, ungenerous though it was at the moment.
It has since been my endeavour to show that I regretted
my impulsive persecution, and I trust that my long
forbearance and self-effacement have proved to ye
that your comfort and happiness are the first object
of my heart.”

“You have been very good to us all,” answered
Janice, “and I would that I were able to repay
in full measure all we owe to you. But—­”

“Ye can, and by one word,” interjected
the suitor.

“But, Lord Clowes,” she continued, with
a voice that trembled a little, “I cannot yield
to thy wish. Censurable I know myself to be—­and
no one can upbraid me more than I upbraid myself—­yet
between the two wrongs I must choose, and ’t
is better for both of us that I break the implied promise,
entered into at a moment when I was scarce myself than
to make a new one which I know to be false from the
beginning, and impossible to fulfil.”